Alisa D.

Broom

American History 1483, MWF, 1:00

FALL SEMESTER 2010

La Malinche
The Spaniards called her “La Malinche” and the Aztecs called her “Doňa

Marina”. Both labeled her as a traitor and harlot for the role she played in

helping Cortės conquer Mexico.

Malinalli, the name given to La Malinche at birth, was born into a noble Aztec

family. Her mother and father, both very wealthy and powerful chiefs were

the leaders of a town called Paynala, located in the province of Coatzacualco

on the southeastern border of Mexico.

While yet a child, La Malinche's father would die, making her the sole heir of

his estate, due to the fact she was his firstborn. Soon after her father's

death, her mother fell in love with another young leader, who she would

soon marry.

Not long after La Malinche's mother and stepfather were married, her

mother would bring another addition into the family, a baby boy. Her

mother and stepfather grew very fond of their new son and wanted him to

be the one to rule the village. In order to achieve this, La Malinche's mother

and stepfather devised a plan to sell her into slavery and claim that she had

died. Upon her so-called death, La Malinche's half brother would receive

her rightful inheritance as firstborn.

La Malinche was sold to some traders passing through. They in turn took

the young girl to Tabasco where she would ultimately end up the slave of the

military chief in that area.

While in the Tabasco area, before Cortes arrived, La Malinche managed to

learn the Mayan dialects of the Yucatan. Now young La Malinche could

speak her native Aztec dialect along with both Mayan and Non-Mayan Indian

dialects.

When Cortes arrived in Tabasco, he was presented with 20 young female

slaves, La Malinche being one of them. It was the custom of Cortes, with a

belief in Christianity, to convert his slaves to Christianity and to baptize

them. As he set out for the next port of call, Cortes would learn that the one

he christened Dona Marina (La Malinche) would prove to be a valuable asset

to his cause.

Cortes had recruited a priest, Jeronimo de Aguilar, which was a slave also, to

be his interpreter, since he could speak both Spanish and Mayan. On the

way to the next port of call, Cortes met up with an envoy of Moctezuma, the

Aztec Emperor. While counting on Jeronimo to translate so he could

communicate with Moctezuma, he found that Jeronimo could not speak the

language. Later that night, Cortes was made aware that La Malinche could

speak and understand the language of the Aztecs. Cortes sent for La

Malinche to translate the Aztec language for him. La Malinche could not yet

speak Spanish, so she translated the Aztec to Mayan and Jeronimo

translated the Mayan to Spanish. This would be the start of the close

relationship that La Malinche would forge with Cortes.

In the years ahead, La Malinche would learn several more languages, bare

Cortes a son and play the vital role in being the translator and Christian
missionary to the Mayan Indians. It was through her ability to speak

numerous dialects and her enabling Cortes to use negotiation rather than

violence, that made the conquest of New Spain the success it was. Cortes,

in a letter preserved by the Spanish archives, gave credit to La Malinche

when he stated, “After God we owe this conquest of New Spain to Dona

Marina.”

While some regard La Malinche a harlot or traitor, it is my opinion that she is

a prime example on making lemon-aid when life deals you lemons . She

was a woman, though a slave, that had great passion for her religion and a

genuine love for people. She proves the old saying true, “Behind every good

man is a great woman.”

La Malinche – Creator or Traitor?,

(http://www.tihof.org/honors/malinche.htm)

La Malinche – Harlot or Heroine? (http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/224-

la-malinche-harlotor-heroine)

La Malinche, Unrecognized Heroine

(http://www.mexconnect.com/articles/670-la-malinche-unrecognized-

heroine)